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LI.

1807.

the successor of Charlemagne. Thus, while France, rioting CHAP. in the triumph of Tilsit, and deeming her power established on an immovable basis, was fawning on her rulers with Eastern adulation, and bartering her freedom for the enjoyment of gold; Prussia, taking counsel from adversity, was preparing in silence, in the amelioration of her institutions and the energy of her inhabitants, that real regeneration which, independent of individuals, un-1 Hard. ix. stained by crime, was destined hereafter to raise her from x. 74, 75. the lowest state of depression to a height of glory sur-ii. 196, 200. passing all she had lost.1

467, 469;

Stein's Leb.

17.

statistics,

of Austria.

Bent to the earth by the disasters of Austerlitz, but still possessing the physical and material resources of Situation, power, Austria, during the desperate strife from the and power Saale to the Niemen, was silently but uninterruptedly repairing her losses, and preparing to resume her place in the rank of independent nations. If she had lost the opportunity, during the preceding winter, of interposing with decisive effect on the banks of the Elbe, she had the magnitude of previous disasters, the mortal hazard of an unsuccessful demonstration, to offer in her excuse. Sufficient reliance, it was thought, could not yet be placed on the constancy of Russia; suffering had not adequately tamed the hereditary jealousy of the Prussian government. But the observers of the Imperial cabinet augured, not less from the measures which they were in the course of adopting, than the known perseverance and constancy of their policy, that they had by no means relinquished the contest, and that, if a favourable opportunity should occur, they would yet appear foremost in the struggle for European freedom. During the interval of hostilities, the Aulic Council had been indefatigable in their efforts to restore the equipment and revive the spirit of the army. The artillery, abstracted by Napo- 445, 447. Report of leon from the arsenal of Vienna, had been regained, in Archduke great part, by purchase from the French government; 2 Aug. 10. vast exertions had been made to supply the horses

VOL. VIII.

Q

2 Hard. ix.

Charles,

LI.

CHAP. wanting in the cavalry regiments; the infantry had been, to a considerable extent, recruited by the prisoners who returned from France, or new soldiers who had been unostentatiously invited to the Imperial standards.

1807.

18.

Continental

obtains the

In open violation of the treaty of Pressburg, however, She joins the France had hitherto retained the fortress of Braunau, on System, and their western frontier, on the absurd pretext that Russia, evacuation an independent power, over whom the Imperial cabinet of Braunau. had no control, had not, agreeably to that treaty, Aug. 24. evacuated the mouths of the Cattaro. Other measures, equally significant, told them they were regarded by the great Conqueror only in the highest rank of vassals. Andreossi, the French ambassador at Vienna, openly used the most menacing language, both before and after the treaty of Tilsit; new states were, without either notice or negotiation, added by a simple decree of the French Emperor to the Confederation of the Rhine; and by a summary decree the cabinet of Vienna was ordered forthwith to adhere to the Continental System.t By yielding on this vital point, however, and at the same

Resources

* The principalities of Anhalt, Reuss, Ladepé Schwartzburg, and Waldeck. The resources of Austria in 1807, notwithstanding the loss of the Tyrol and other provinces by the peace of Pressburg, were still very great; and and statis- they are an object of interest, considering the prominent share which that power soon after took in the war. They are thus stated by Baron Lichtenstein :

tics of the

Austrian

empire.

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LI.

1807.

time making a skilful use of the termination of the dis- CHAP. pute with Russia about the mouths of the Cattaro, in virtue of the treaty of Tilsit, as well as the growing anxiety of the French Emperor to increase his forces on the Pyrenean frontier, with a view to his ambitious projects in the Spanish peninsula, Metternich, to the great joy of the inhabitants of Vienna, who regarded its prolonged occupation as a continued badge of subjection, at length succeeded in obtaining the removal of the Oct. 10. French troops from Braunau; and the Imperial domi- 1 Hard. ix. nions, still flourishing and powerful, notwithstanding all their losses, ceased to be polluted by the presence of stranger.1

445, 447.

Thiers, viii.

a 230, 231.

Sweden.

are shut up

In the general wreck of the hopes of Europe on the 19. shores of the Niemen, the King of Sweden, who possessed Affairs of a spirit worthy of a more powerful monarchy and a The Swedes greater part on the political stage, was not discouraged. in StralHis semi-insular situation enabled him to bid defiance to sund. the threats of the French Emperor; the passage round the Gulf of Bothnia was scarcely practicable; and with the assistance of England, he did not despair of being able to make head against his enemies, even if Russia should be added to their already formidable league. No

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-LICHTENSTEIN'S Statist. de la Monarchie Autrichienne; and HARD. ix. Pièces

Just. K.

1807.

July 3.

CHAP. Sooner, therefore, did the English squadron, with the LI. advanced guard of the land forces, which had been destined for the support of Russia and Prussia, appear in the Baltic, than he denounced the armistice, just nineteen days after the battle of Friedland. Napoleon, noways displeased at this unexpected resumption of hostilities, immediately made preparations for bringing them to a rapid conclusion. Thirty thousand men were speedily assembled under Marshal Brune, who, as soon as hostilities recommenced on the 13th July, began to press on all sides the fifteen thousand Swedes who occupied Pomerania. Unable to bear up against so great a preponderance of force, the Swedish generals, after some inconsiderable combats, took shelter under the cannon of Stralsund; and Brune completed the investment of that place in the middle of July.1

July 13.

July 15.

1 Dum. xix.
138, 145.
Jom. ii.
456, 457.

20.

Siege of
Stralsund.

The King of Sweden was soon made to perceive, from bitter experience, that after the pacification of Tilsit, his transmarine dominions were held by the most precarious tenure. At first the English troops, under Lord Cathcart, above ten thousand strong, and in the finest condition, formed part of the garrison; and the presence of this imposing force appeared to promise to Gustavus, who commanded in person, the means of making a defence which might rival that by which Charles XII. had immortalised its walls. At this period the Swedish monarch appeared to be passionately desirous of military renown; and so ambitious was he of the perils and glories of actual warfare, that he went so far as to send a flag of truce to the French marshal, offering a purse of gold to the gunner in the French lines who had levelled the piece of ordnance, the shot of which had struck the wall a few feet from the place where he was standing *- a proceeding which the English general justly considered as savouring

* I received this anecdote from my venerable and much esteemed friend the Earl of Cathcart, now no more; whose recollection of all the events of that memorable period, in which he bore so prominent a part, was as vivid and correct, to a very advanced age, as when they occurred thirty years before.

LI.

1807.

rather of a romantic or highly excited temperament, than CHAP. the sober judgment befitting the ruler of a nation. But stern necessity soon put a period to these chivalrous illusions. The English troops were withdrawn in the end of July, to co-operate in the great armament intended for July 30. the reduction of Copenhagen and seizure of the Danish fleet, of which mention will immediately be made; and the Swedish garrison, without any external aid, was left to make head alone against the hourly increasing forces of 153, 155. the French marshal, which already were more than double 456. their own.1

1 Dum. xix,

Jom. ii.

21.

The evident hopelessness of the attempt to preserve the place after the treaty of Tilsit was known, and it had Its fall. become apparent that the French Emperor could increase the besieging force at pleasure to quadruple its present amount, damped the military ardour of the Swedes, and induced them to prolong the defence rather from a sense of duty than from any hope that it could ultimately prove successful. Trenches were begun on the night of the fête Aug. 15. of the Emperor, by seven thousand workmen, and advanced, under the scientific direction of General Chasseloup, with extraordinary vigour. Contrary to all previous example, the approaches were made on three fronts at the same time, and pushed with such rapidity, that in four days they were within three hundred yards of the external pallisades, the batteries already armed, and everything prepared for a bombardment. Seeing their city about to be ruined for no political or national purpose, but a mere point of military honour, the magistrates threw themselves at the feet of the King, and besought him to Aug. 20. spare the inhabitants the horrors of an unavailing defence. He could not resist the appeal, and withdrew with almost 2 Dum. xix. the whole garrison into the adjacent island of Rugen; 145, 161. while Stralsund itself, with four hundred pieces of cannon 456, 457. and immense military magazines, fell into the hands of the 195, 196. enemy.2

The Swedes, however, still kept their ground in the

Jom. ii.

Thiers, viii.

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